Armed gang ordered to pay back £50,000

THREE armed robbers have been ordered to pay back £50,000 from a string of raids.

The gang has been ordered to pay back the money after four high-profile raids between April, 2009 and September, 2010.

Businesses targeted were KFC in Cheshire Oaks, The Old Wirral Hundred pub, Great Sutton, and two Conservative clubs, one in Ellesmere Port and the other in Buckley, Flintshire.

As a result of a hearing at Chester Crown Court, Judge Thomas Teague ordered Robert John Forbes, 31, of Sutton Way, to pay back £23,574; Steven Littler, 31, of Swale Road, to pay £20,612; and Philip Shone, 36, of Fleet Street, to repay £4,500.

Forbes and Littler were jailed for eight years on January 21 for their part in the robberies, while Shone was sent to prison for three years on February 18 after admitting conspiracy to commit robbery from July 8, 2010, to September 20, 2010.

The raids began on April 5, 2009, when they robbed Mark Roberts of £393.37. On April 12 the group robbed manager James Silkner at the Wirral Hundred in Capenhurst Lane, Great Sutton, taking £11,600.

Then, on July 9, 2010, they used a baseball bat to take £2,861 from KFC at Cheshire Oaks. On September 5, they tried to rob the Conservative Club in Worcester Walk.

They next day they robbed Damien Walters, taking £4,500.

Finally, they attempted to rob the Conservative Club in Tram Road, Buckley, on September 19.

Police spokesman Rachel Hayes said: “Not only have they been brought to justice they have also been ordered to pay back a substantial amount of money the courts have agreed was acquired through illegal gains.

“Our inquiries will continue to locate the outstanding assets owed by the three men.”

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